


Entrench

by Nakimochiku



Series: The Forest Years [2]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-10
Updated: 2015-07-10
Packaged: 2018-04-08 16:20:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4312029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakimochiku/pseuds/Nakimochiku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sesshomaru will chalk his next visit to Inuyasha up to curiousity as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Entrench

He comes for Inuyasha in the early spring, when the snows are dirty grey and melting, and everything smells of mud and new growth. The whelp is half mad, left alone in the forest in the little hovel he has made for himself, lined with dead leaves and a large fur cloak, littered with the bones of his meager prey.

He is more feral animal now than demon or human, just a tiny creature with survival as his single minded purpose. Sesshomaru supposes he could find that level of tenacity admirable; he half expected to return to the abandoned fox den to find the child’s remains, long devoured by predators.

He watches for a while before he makes his presence known, perched in a tree above the small clearing Inuyasha occupies. He snarls at a fox attempting to steal his sad meal, swiping at it with his baby claws, chipped and stubby and soft. The fox hisses at him and darts away, leaving Inuyasha to his scrawny squirrel. He tears into it, spitting out the fur and chewing the rangy meet. He’s skinny from a hard lean winter, his previously plumped cheeks sallow, pale and lacking.

He looks wild, splattered with blood, gold eyes darting everywhere for a hint of danger.

Sesshomaru leaps gracefully from his perch then. Inuyasha leaps away from him, and it should please him that a few hard months in the wild has taught the little monstrosity some common sense; he cowers in his fox den, curled under the fur cloak as though it protects him. Perhaps once upon a time it had; when Sesshomaru’s energies still clung to it, it was as good as a barrier for any predator with half a brain.

Inuyasha growls lowly at him, the sound raspy in his little throat, not quite a full growl, when Sesshomaru takes a step closer. Another step and Inuyasha swipes out at his ankles to ward him away. “Behave yourself.” Sesshomaru says sharply. It mollifies the little beast, and his soft ears droop in acquiescence, recognizing a creature greater than he. Now that he’s here, looking at his skinny face and wild eyes, Sesshoumaru doesn’t know what to do with the child. Should he kill him at last, since it is clear the forest hasn’t the will to claim him? Or should he leave him to grow wilder still, until speech and reason is completely beyond him? “Do you remember me?” he asks, stooping to peer into the hole.

Inuyasha glances up to study his face, long and thoughtful. His ears swivel, his nose twitches as he breathes deep, just taking in sesshomaru’s scent. “Pretty.” He says at last. He dares crawl from his hole to stand to his full height. He barely comes up to his knee. “Do you want me, yet?” he asks, voice tripping over his lips with trembling anticipation, hope glintering in amber eyes.

“No.” Sesshomaru answers sharply; he does not want the whelp, he’s here merely to assuage his curiousity.

“Oh.” Inuyasha says softly. He cast about his sad clearing, perhaps suddenly ashamed of his ragged claws, his blood streaked face, the bits of fur still scattered around him like so much fresh blossoms. Privately, Sesshomaru thinks this wild look suits Inuyasha well. “Oh…Momma’s things got washed away in a storm. I don’t have anything to give you.”

Sesshomaru makes a soft noise. “I cannot be bribed with cheap human articles, they are worthless to me.” Inuyasha blinks slowly at him. His ears flick, and Sesshoumaru can almost see him thinking.

“Okay.” He beams. One of his milk fangs has fallen out, leaving a gap in his smile. Sesshomaru wonders if it is because he is growing, or just poor nutrition. “Wait here!” he chirps, and scurries off into the forest.

Sesshomaru makes himself comfortable in the tree branch from which he’d been watching Inuyasha. The breeze is wet, threatening rain, and each time it whispers among the trees it takes a cascade of blossoms with it, perfuming the air. In the time the half breed is gone, Sesshomaru watches the same, sorry fox circle the edge of the clearly, and dart in to sniff at the pieces of squirrel Inuyasha discarded. He snaps at it, curling his whip around its throat and dragging it closer with an easy flick of his wrist. The thing yips and yelps and struggles until Sesshomaru snaps its neck, idly droping that carcass over the branch beside him.

Inuyasha returns to the clearing dirtier than ever. He pauses, and when he sees that Sesshomaru is not where he left him, sniffs about until he pin points his location. “Here.” He holds something aloft in his tiny fist. Sesshommaru grabs his kill by the scruff and drops soundlessly to the ground. “I got you this root. It smells really good, and when your tummy hurts, you eat it and it makes you feel better. Humans can’t eat it, it makes them sick.”

Sesshomaru holds out his hand for the crude gift, and Inuyasha drops it into his palm. His claws are even more ragged from digging, and there are blossoms of every colour in his hair, caught around the creases of his ears. He drops the fox at the whelp’s feet in exchange for the meager offering. He finds it more than generous, in exchange for the half breed’s worthless life.

“Go.” Sesshoumaru says, tucking the root into his sleeve for safe keeping. Inuyasha gathers up the kill and scurries into his den. His eyes remained fixed on Sesshomaru, glowing from the opening of his hole, until Sesshomaru is completely out of view.


End file.
